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Time--2017 A to Z Theme

My theme for the 2018 Blogging from A to Z April Challenge is "Cleaning the Clutter"--I might literally be cleaning my closets or figuratively clearing the excess from some other part of my life. I'm sure you can think of other things this could mean for you as well.

Always a work in progress--welcome to my blog...

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Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Ask Arlee & BOTB Winner

Lots of asking in this post. Today I'm asking you to answer some questions. A to Z Team Co-host M.J. Joachim has asked that I share the link to a recent post on her blog M.J.Joachim's Writing Tips. In her post M.J. is asking her visitors to answer a brief survey composed of five questions plus one bonus question. It's very brief and you can have fun with it. And it will help us to improve the 2015 Challenge.

Please help us out by visiting M.J.'s Totally Random A - Z Challenge Survey #1 and take a minute to answer the questions and then if you can, please go that extra step of sharing the post with others. The more input we get on this, the better we can understand what you want most in A to Z. We need your opinions!

Oh, and if you're wondering about the #1 on this survey, M.J. is planning on a few more of these. Watch out for them and be sure to answer each survey when they come up on her blog. We thank you ahead of time.

Best Version of "High Flyin' Bird"

In last week's BOTB post I offered up three different versions of the oft recorded song "High Flyin' Bird". Not too surprisingly the majority of you were not familiar with the song since, though recorded by many artists, the song never became a hit on the music charts. It's a good song that musicians and singers liked to perform years ago, but it apparently wasn't good enough to resonate with the listening public.

The versions of "High Flyin' Bird" that I matched against each other were by the Au Go Go Singers, Jefferson Airplane, and H.P. Lovecraft. They are all very good in my opinion--I don't have a problem with any of them. And actually if I had used the version by Rejoice I would have gone with that as my favorite--I love the riffing guitar in the back-up and the jazzy vocals.

However, of my contestants, the version that I am most accustomed to hearing is the one by H.P. Lovecraft. This is a style of music that I immensely enjoy--spacey psychedelia that you can mind drift along with. Lovecraft put out far too few albums, but the legacy they left behind is a strong one.

My favorite of the three choices is the one by H.P. Lovecraft, but even my vote doesn't get them near the top. They end up with four votes. The Au Go Go Singers makes out a little better with six votes. The big winner as might have been expected is Jefferson Airplane with twelve votes. They are worthy in my opinion.

Final Tally: Jefferson Airplane wins with 12 votes

Au Go Go Singers 6 votes

H.P. Lovecraft 4 votes

Next Battle of the Bands will be Sunday June 1st (What! June already?)

Will you answer M.J.'s survey if you haven't done so already? Do you enjoy answering survey questions? Do you think marketing surveys provide useful information?

I've never taken part in A-Z because it's too big of a commitment for me, but I've enjoyed reading many an A-Z post. It's quite impressive that you founded the challenge and that it's caught on so well! Hope you have a happy Blitz Day! :)

Happy Blitz Day! Lee, I will be back to check out these links~ Life is crazy for me right now. I love Jefferson Airplane...but I will give H.P. Lovecraft a chance. I don't think they are going to sway me ;D ATBest Blitz

Hi Arlee! I thought I'd been a follower of yours for a long time, but now I don't think I am...so I will now officially be your new follower. I'm also new to the Blog Blitz created by that cool guy, DL! So, I think you're the second or third person I've been honored to say, Happy Blitz Day! (P.S. If you aren't following me, will you please begin? Like you say on your blog, it makes your numbers look better, and yours are a whole lot better than mine!)Have a blissful day! :)

I answered the questions...I have mixed feelings about surveys. As a freelance writer, I'm regularly asked to take survey results and turn them into articles. Most of the time the business paid a marketing firm to conduct the survey and the results are pretty low...12 people might have answered and my job is to disguise that and use terms like, "75 percent of respondents said..." It's really changed how I see survey results...

I'm not so sure the average marketing survey provides such useful information, since the survey pools tend to be relatively small, and often from a self-selecting group. It's like reporting political opinions from readers or viewers of a newspaper or station that's slanted one way. Kind of a foregone conclusion given the audience, or not representative of a much larger group from a lot of backgrounds.

Happy Blitz Day, Lee! And thank you so much for sharing the survey. We're getting a lot of good feedback that will help improve next year's Challenge so far. I'm not surprised Jefferson Airplane won the vote. It's such a good group.

Stopped by for the Blitz. I've participated in the A to Z for the past two years and appreciate all the work you and the others do to create this opportunity for us. I'm off to answer MJs survey. Happy Blitz!

I'm here to comment on your posting. See, not just a mention of gosh n' stuff HAPPY BLITZ DAY AND YAY! No sir, no mention.

So dude, are you impressed that in my ongoing acts of kindness, that I type to you at gone three in the morning? Do you appreciate my dedication, my loyalty? All my questions? My very long comments?

If you subscribe to follow up comments by email, you will know, that amongst all the comments, including yours, of course, I left a comment on M.J's site. Strangely enough, no mention of the altruism that was The Alphabark Challenge, 2014! Community spirit, eh.

Next Battle of the Bands. I can hardly wait.

Okay, seriously, you know I'm just a really nice guy. Kudos to you and all you do, my friend.

Still more wonderful visits! Those not familiar with A to Z be sure to check it out. It's the greatest blog event ever--just ask Gary at Klahanie, he'll attest to that.

Gary-- I stayed up nearly all night due to some unpleasant circumstances and got some blogging done. I need to put in as much blogging time in as I can since my computer is so darn slow. And thanks for answering MJ's survey--I did see that you'd stopped by there.

Comment, part two. Absolutely, get all your adoring fans to come and ask me what I think about the amazing alphabet challenge. I will certainly attest to something. Odds are nobody will come and ask me. I don't have your blogging influence. Never mind, eh.

I hear you about a slow computer. When I move, I going to get one that actually loads up. I wont mention that blasted Google+!

M.J., like your fine self, is my friend and always glad to leave one of my highly collectable comments.

So very not qualified to judge between the bands or I'd love to help out. Someday I'll go back in time and relive my youth so I don't miss out on all the popular culture (consequently not feeling like a dunce when people debate the merits of popular bands). Happy Blitz Day anyway!

Happy Blitz Day!! and thanks for creating the a-z challenge! I discovered it last year and loved it!!! I meant to take part this year but life got a bit hectic, looking forward to next years though. :)

Hi Lee! Happy Belated Blog Blitz Day to you! I know, I know, I'm late. {Face/palm} I already told Medeia this has been my second or third time in a row I've been a day late. My apologies sir and I hope you enjoyed your day! Have a great one. Eva

Yup, did MJ's survey and tweeted it. Missed BOTB, but have never heard the song. I would probably have picked Jefferson Airplanes version as I really like that band.Happy Blitz day my dear friend. Sorry I was late for the party...Tina @ Life is GoodOn the Open Road! @ Join us for the 4th Annual Post-Challenge Road Trip!

Go ahead and say something. Don't be afraid to speak your mind.I normally try to respond to all comments in the comment section so please remember to check the "Email follow-up comments" box if you want to participate in the comment conversation.

For Battle of the Bands voting the "Anonymous" commenting option has been made available though this version is the least preferred. If voting using "anonymous" please include in your comment your name (first only is okay) and city you are voting from and the reason you chose the artist you did.

If you know me and want to comment but don't want to do it here, then you can send me an email @ jacksonlee51 at aol dot com.

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A juggler of words and phrases. My main blog is Tossing It Out. The focus blog for the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge can now be found at a-to-zchallenge.com where updates will be posted until the event in April begins.
Wrote By Rote is about memoir writing.
A Few Words is my Sunday contemplation blog.
A Faraway View is about dreams. Pick what you like or look at them all. I love blogging!